"It is, indeed unfortunate that Tripura, despite its age—old tradition, culture, natural wealth, beautiful landscape and archaeological treasures failed to attract the attention of the rest of the country. Only when the staccato of gunshots reverberated from the hills, Tripura attracted the world's attention. As the state slowly emerged from obscurity due to blood spilling tribal militancy to become a flash point of the South Asian conflict zone, people outside the region now could at least recognize the name—Tripura. But, still, Tripura to them meant—and perhaps continues to mean——-a land of tribal guerrillas where killing and kidnapping is the order of the day. For them Tripura is a place with high hills, rugged terrains and deep forests where death lurks in every road, at every bend. It is when you tell them that this is the place where literacy is more than 80 percent, where ONGC is now setting up its first mega power project or when you remind someone that music maestro Sachin Dev Burman actually hailed from the Royal family of this state and was a 'tribal' in ethnic sense or it is the Tripura king who first recognized Rabindranath Tagore in his teen, you will find a shade of amazement flashing across their eyes."